Vijai: Not in hurry to import coconuts

13 Jan 201806:40am IST

13 Jan 201806:40am IST

Report byTeam Herald

Lambasts Cong for ‘coconut controversy’; Says the govt wants to provide coconuts to people at affordable prices

MARGAO: The TCP and Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai has hit out at the Congress for criticism on the coconut issue, saying there are four options on the table for the government and they are in no hurry to import coconuts.

He said that the government wants to intervene because they wish to provide coconut to the people at affordable prices.

The agriculture Minister said that the government was working on four options; the first was to buy directly from producers in Goa and distribute through the agriculture department, second, import coconuts from Sri Lanka or other places in India - Sri Lanka because of the advantage of the currency strength. While the third option was to wait and see the new production of the State, the fourth option was to take coconuts from various government agencies and distribute to the public through the horticulture stalls.

“Girish’s statement claiming that I want to remove coconut trees and convert the land into settlement is bizarre. I think we should not reply to conspiracy theorists and the spokespersons of the party which make money from selling tickets,” Vijai retorted.

He went a step ahead and said that the Congress has to reply why for 51 years they failed to give the recognition to the stalwarts of Opinion Poll, when they were in the government for maximum number of years.

Vijai also took a dig at the spokesman and mocked him saying, “foot in mouth is a disease in the bovines, it shouldn’t spread into the spokesman.”